Who will win the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2015? Messi, Ronaldo or Neymar?

by Guilherme Neto

A few days ago, FIFA revealed who were the 3 players who received more votes out of their preliminary 23-man shortlist. And to be honest, we can’t really say the final 3 names that came out of this are that surprising. It’s Real Madrid‘s Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona‘s duo formed by Lionel Messi and Neymar Jr. The award will be announced in a ceremony held in Zurich, next January 11 of 2016.

Even though some will argue that Barcelona deserved to have all the 3 slots for their attacking players with Luis Suárez taking Cristiano Ronaldo‘s spot in the podium, the truth is that each of these 3 players made it to this final stage of the FIFA Ballon d’Or on their own merits.

Let’s start with Ronaldo, who despite not having won any trophy for Real Madrid in 2015, still managed to deliver his usual contribution on the pitch in the way of goals. The Portuguese forward got to an astonishing mark of 61 goals in the 2014-15 season, 66 for club and country, and has arguably been Madrid‘s most influential player all year long. However, he won’t stand many chances against the other two contenders this year, since we all know how collective accolades are important in the moment people decide who to vote on.

The other outsider in this year’s FIFA Ballon d’Or race is Neymar. The Brazilian superstar made it to the final podium for the first time in his career and judging by the level and quality of his latest performances for Barcelona, he may very well be on the verge of becoming a more serious threat to Ronaldo and Messi in the years to come. This time however, he should settle in keeping in Messi‘s shadow once again and hope to fill in in Messi‘s shoes in a short future.

Last but not the least is Lionel Messi. The Argentinian is on its way to win his 5th trophy of this kind (he already has 3 Ballon d’Ors and 1 FIFA World Best Player of the Year) and no one can seriously imagine a different outcome other than Messi winning it this year. The Barcelona all-time top scorer led his side to glory in pretty much every competition they were in (with the exception of the Spanish Super Cup, where Barça lost to Athletic Bilbao earlier this summer) and has managed to maintain the primary spotlight on himself despite having the likes of Luis Suárez and Neymar next to him scoring goals week in and week out.